Carmine Horizon
by GirlNextDoor228
Summary: - ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE AU - Follow the journey of six survivors of the infection that plagued Metro City as they make their way through conflicts and hordes to attempt reaching salvation. The only thing certain in their path is a carmine horizon.
1. First Contact

Carmine Horizon – Part one

Sharp screams echoed through the walls of the building, causing two heads to turn to its source almost immediately before trading concerned gazes.

There was another man in the room, holding a cigarette in his hand while his cold eyes stared firmly and tiredly outside, through the gray bars on the door before him. He gnashed his teeth against the cigarette once the high cries were turned into loud curses against practically everything its source would remember to complain about at the moment, and almost cringed.

Loud footsteps were practically muffled by the violent vociferations, but once the rusty metal feet stopped in their tracks, the screams had been merely reduced to shaky breaths and whimpers.

Minion hissed. He'd thought he would be able to ignore his Master's dreadful stubbornness, but apparently he had been proven wrong. Once the blue-skinned man had insisted he wanted to be the one to do it, Minion couldn't find it in himself to deny him of the task. And the fish would've been perfectly fine with it, did it not involve the risk of his Master's death – or worse. If only he hadn't closed the damn door.

A loud unintelligible mumble startled the fish, causing him to turn his gaze from the wooden door for a moment. Pale grey arms reached through the bars of the reinforced door with more strangled mumbles, and Minion was positive he saw a smirk creep through the lips of the man in front of it. He brought the cigarette to his mouth and stepped back in order to reach for the fire axe behind him – only to be stopped by a single pistol shot. "Hey!"

His tone was more annoyed than startled as he turned his body around to look at the man behind him, so smug it wouldn't be surprising for him to blow the smoke on the gun's barrel with a smarmy grin. "Wouldn't want you to get your suit dirty"

Bernard chuckled dryly before taking another puff from his cigarette. "You and your manners"

The large-chinned man smiled briefly before placing his pistol back in his belt's holster. "You can take the next one"

A bald man appeared behind the opened door, forehead sticky with sweat, and spoke in a tired tone. "I'll watch her. You get some rest. We still have an hour left" The fish was met with the brown color of the door before he could even finish pronouncing the word _'sir'_.

At first he just stood there, black M-16 firmly splayed in between his blue hands, cocked and ready to fire at will. However, as his acid green eyes found the woman's face stained with tears, he felt his legs tremble and decided to sit down on a wooden crate in front of her at the risk of them giving in. She was eyeing down her wrists, red and sore from the friction of the ropes that bound her, tired from struggling against them. The woman's left shoulder was still screaming painfully loudly at her, and thus, evening her breathing seemed like an impossible task at the moment.

She tilted her head slightly to peek towards her right, finding a white bandage firmly adhered to her shoulder. Her head raced as a sudden wave of blurriness crept through her senses, momentarily blocking them.

"Roxanne?"

She was leaning forward dangerously, head almost threatening to dangle downwards. The blue man stood, pointing the weapon at the floor and tentatively reaching to touch her. She cringed momentarily as a stinging sensation overwhelmed the right side of her body. The several scratches and bruises on her legs were now completely numb and forgotten, even the foot she'd painfully twisted earlier – all her brain focused on was that white, burning feeling on her clavicle. And then came his voice.

"I'll get you something to eat. You're going to need sugar if you want to get up in a while" Her eyes found his blue face as fast as her condition would allow, and it took her a great amount of effort and energy she wasn't even sure she possessed to put her lips together and get her throat to work properly.

"_Stay_" Her voice was quavering practically as much as her hands. She wasn't even sure he had heard her scratchy plea, but she was positively determined to try to get him to listen. It might've been due to the extreme pain, but selfishly or not, she didn't want to die like this, alone and surrounded by four dusty walls.

"_Please_… stay with me"

His eyebrows rose vigorously as he found the task of swallowing momentarily impossible. He was still turned towards her, standing with the weapon pointing downwards, and it seemed like an eternity before he finally decided to move his legs in her direction. "I will. Let me just tell Minion to get you something"

Once her brain processed the first two words that had come out of his lips, she let her head slump down in a small nod, and swallowed the little amount of saliva she still had left. Luckily, she had managed to avoid biting off her own tongue as he cleaned and disinfected her wound. She had to thank him, but simply the thought of it was tiring her body to unhealthy levels.

Roxanne vaguely registered the door opening and the robotic suit that carried the blue man's minion coming in and having a short look at her; but her eyes were focused on the tiles under her feet, intently noting how they seemed to blur away from her vision from time to time. Her mind raced furiously with different thoughts of the past hours, of how she got herself into this situation, of what would happen to her now. She heard Wayne's concerned voice in the distance, but her brain was only capable of registering one thing.

She didn't want to die.

* * *

><p>"Don't you think maybe there's <em>really<em> something going on? I mean, there's no one at the reception. Or the waiting room. Or the halls" The man in front of her wasn't even sure about how they were going to film this report in the first place, since his hands were now shaking visibly, causing the black camera around his arm to move frenetically.

Roxanne wasn't less shaken aback with this situation herself, but they had work to do, and the people deserved to know what was really going on in the city's hospital. The government had refused to parlay with the reporters or doctors, and it was in her journalistic duty to keep the citizens informed.

Not even a day ago, rumors arose stating that a very transmittable infection had stormed its way into the city, leaving a trail of panic and immediate desertion. Just the panic of contagion was enough to make at least a thousand citizens flee from their houses in terror, leaving the crumbled shadow of what was once a glorious city behind. Streets were deserted, either out of fear or evasion, but the short-haired woman had to admit being a bit skeptical about the pandemic chaos this disease was causing – and James, the man now walking in front of her through the hospital's hall, had himself confessed a few conspirational theories had come to his mind. "Hello?"

However, the fact that Metro Hospital seemed to be completely rid of doctors – and filled with incoherent grunts of pained patients – was tugging on her fear. "Okay, maybe you're right. They probably gave up on these people and evacuated as well. Let's just –"The noise around them increased, along with loud banging on the doors. It seemed like the diseased could smell them, sense them, and were desperate to reach them for some reason the reporter was not keen on finding out.

Roxanne's heart skipped a beat furiously as her mouth began to dry. Her feet backed away slowly, and slimy noise made her note her purple ballet flats were now stepping over a thick red liquid, a trail of it leading to a plastic door beside her. The moment her eyes spotted the door, a hand managed to erupt from it, smacking the white plastic with ease. It was bloody – she unwillingly concluded its owner had probably broken a finger or two with the impact – and deformed. The infection had definitely eaten most of this person's flesh.

She let out a choked scream in surprise, and James immediately lowered the camera to turn it on, completely ignoring the broken door behind him and the reporter's order for him to run. Roxanne was now past one of the several waiting rooms, a stash of adrenaline creeping through her body as she ran for dear life, James not very far behind her. "This is James May from KMCP 8 bringing you an exclusive look at the result of the rumored infection"

His voice was trembling as he ran with the camera under his right arm. At first he forced a professional tone, but once he looked around with the camera and found at least half a dozen infected running after him his voice was forcedly informal.

"James put that thing down!" They were reaching for the hospital's main entrance now, still hot with adrenaline pumping on their veins, and the man decided to forcefully ignore his partner's requests. "Put that fucking thing down!"

He was running backwards now, carefully balancing himself not to fall, and found himself trembling once he spotted the panic in the woman's voice. She almost shrieked at him again, but he didn't comply. "The patients are hostile… violent, even…." He continued his speech, but Roxanne wasn't paying attention anymore. She looked behind her shoulder to find he was falling dangerously behind, and screamed one more time.

She was way ahead of him now, crossing the street and getting as far from the hospital as she could – but he was fading out of her view. "James!"

"Shit!" She heard a loud thud behind and found her cameraman on the floor, recording equipment in his hands as the infected bodies swarmed him, covering him in a crimson mess of limbs. She saw him smacking a few corpses with the camera, but it eventually rolled away – and she had to force herself to stop in her tracks and scream for him. He screamed back and kicked as the diseased piled up on him, each clumsily grabbing a part of the man and ripping out his clothes and flesh with their teeth.

The reporter ran for her life, doing her best to ignore the sickening grasp of the knots in her stomach. She panted, tears rolling down her eyes as she looked in every direction for a place to hide and call for help. She trembled, hands plastered against her legs to support her upper body. Quick, short breaths escaped the woman's lips as her deep blue eyes widened with the realization of what she had just witnessed.

She heard a distinct mumble behind her and took note of a living corpse that had dispersed from the others to find her. She didn't even hesitate to bring the fallen street sign nearby against his head, once again tormenting her stomach to empty its remains.

_Shit._

Her knuckles turned white from the force she applied on the sign. She wanted to cry, to vomit, to continue getting away from this new-born nightmare.

Eventually, her blue eyes spotted a police vehicle and, looking behind her to make sure nothing was following her path, she entered it with as much as speed as her caution allowed.

"_Hello_?" She forced her voice to sound coherent as she took the intercom device in her hands and pressed the red button.

"I-I don't know if you're listening but my cameraman has just been attacked… I'm in front of Metro Hospital… Please, is anyone there?" She shook. No one answered as she released the button.

"Hello?" Her tone was frantic now as she looked outside of the vehicle to check if it was still safe inside. She didn't hear a thing from the intercom.

"P-Please, is anyone there?" Nothing.

"…You've got to help us!" She waited and eventually leaned her head against the car's seat. This couldn't possibly be happening. A smidge of rationality flooded her momentarily as she remembered it was still possible to ask for help through her cell phone.

_Battery dead._

Roxanne wasn't even sure she felt her own body anymore as she slammed the device against the floor and brought her hands to her face, letting out a scream she'd been holding for minutes.

When a dozen of infected began slamming their fists against the car, she couldn't find any strength to attempt moving, and instead let herself cry. There was no way out of this. No one she could turn to right now.

Then she heard the door beside her unlock and braced the sign in her hands. Her eyes widened once they met a metal hand.

"Are you okay miss?"

A voice. A coherent, living voice. She felt like hugging the metal of the fish's robotic suit as he lowered himself inside the car, a short baseball bat on one of his hands, now redder than black.

"Come on, we need to get out of here" There was another voice, lower and graver, right beside her. She turned to see a blue man reaching out to pull her arm, a black rifle in his other hand.

Megamind. The city's notorious and terribly unsuccessful criminal. She had no idea what the two were doing here, but to be quite honest, she had no intention of finding out until they were safe.

"There's a safe-house up ahead. We were in there, looking for supplies, when we heard your distress call through the radio" The blue man was practically screaming the words through the loud screams of the infected and the blaring sounds of his rifle's shots.

Roxanne did not need to be told twice. She spotted said location and immediately made her way out of it, street sign forgotten. The fish slammed the bat against several corpses that began surrounding him, looking around to check if the woman was already safe, along with his boss.

"Come on, Minion!" The blue man was now standing in front of the door, legs splayed as he emptied the rest of the weapon's shell, only stopping once his faithful companion was inside. He then closed the door and turned around to catch the bat Minion threw at him with a serious gaze. His tight black pants were almost as dirty as his sleeveless shirt, and his boots were stained in red, probably from the amount of kicks in the head he'd given.

Roxanne was still panting, her hair beginning to stick to her forehead due to all the sweat her body produced. She sat down on the floor and avoided looking at the scattered limbs that remained after Megamind was done smacking every pale infected that dared approach the door.

"Are you hurt?" Minion was beside her now, caramel eyes filled with concern, and she replied by shaking her head slowly. The fish's eyes transpired relief.

"Good" She heard the lower voice further away on the room. The bigheaded man was now cleaning his torso and arms, forehead shimmering with sweat. "Whatever you do, don't get bitten"

She shook, not even wanting to remember what had just happened to her partner.

"It's okay. You're not alone. We'll protect you" Minion's tone was comforting, oddly enough, and she found herself nodding, lungs still working like a rapid train.

Megamind sat in front of the table with the radio, and began tuning it again. It wasn't long before the trio heard another voice.

"—fficer Wayne Scott. I am on my way to your position. Please avoid any contact with the infected at all cost and find a safe place until my arrival"


	2. Old friends, New Challenges

**A/N: Thank you kindly, lovely reviewers. I do appreciate it when a reader has the time to leave encouragement or criticism. I really don't like this small chapter but I figured I had to include it to show how Wayne and Bernard have met the group, and also to give you some background about Megamind and Metro Man's relationship C:**

**Next up is Hal **

**Enjoy and leave me a piece of your BRAINZ, s'il vous plaît.**

* * *

><p><span>Carmine Horizon – Part Two<span>

"Look, I wouldn't mind you pacing back and forth around the room if you didn't weigh at least a ton."

Bernard's dry tone was met with an equally sour gaze from across the piranha's dome, one that was mixed with unconcealed concern. Minion eventually stopped walking around the extension of the room and settled in replenishing the ammo in every gun the group had at its disposal, looking for more once he was done.

The brown-haired man was still chewing on what was left of his cigarette with an absent gaze, until Wayne's voice shook him away from his pessimistic thoughts.

"How long has it been?"

The librarian didn't even bother looking at the man just yet, bringing his lips together instead, closer to the cigar.

"Since when?"

It wasn't long before Minion began pacing again with that serious gaze the duo was used to by now.

"Since she's been…-"

The fish stopped suddenly, the matter being discussed obviously perking up his interest.

Wayne trailed off weakly, not finding enough courage to voice the next word. While the woman had never been one of his close friends, he'd given her a couple of interviews in the past, and the two had even gone as far as going out for some coffee – but both were terribly busy the whole time, with careers that were as unpredictable as Megamind's plans to rule the city, and likewise, developing any kind of relationship was something the two had never gotten the chance to do.

He figured he… kind of liked her, in a way. A way that was most definitely far from a romantic one; she felt more like a fierce younger sister he definitely didn't need to protect.

And she was part of his group now – Wayne could never avoid having an extra, special care for the rest of the survivors. As crazy as it seemed, it had brought them closer; even with all the fights on their way to this abandoned house.

"Don't know. 'Least half an hour."

The officer nodded, holding his pistol firmly. It seemed unreal, this whole situation. Horribly, wickedly, disgustingly unreal.

Like a bloody nightmare that had been going on for days, instead of mere hours.

Two men trailed down a street nearby Metro Hospital, pistol and uzi held firmly between their hands as they looked around with a terrible uncertainty.

* * *

><p>"Are you even sure you heard it right?"<p>

The brown-eyed man inquired with a tone that mixed annoyance with caution. Wayne didn't flinch, keeping his eyes firm and determined despite all the crazed thoughts running rampant inside his head.

"I mean, she's probably dead already."

That had been a step too far. The officer was generally a calm-paced man, but if there was one thing he could and would not tolerate coming from anyone, was the suggestion of leaving someone behind.

"If I thought that way you'd still be trapped in that library, dead or alive."

It had to be one of the two, since Wayne was one-hundred percent certain the infected, while being remotely considered living, resembled the very walking dead.

The younger man sighed, either out of frustration or of acknowledgment that the officer was right, once more. Had he not appeared when he did, Bernard was faintly certain of the probability of ending up one blood-sucking corpse as the ones that had invaded his library out of the blue.

It's not that he was socially awkward or something, but Bernard never had many friends. People were generally interested in something when they talked to him – either his ability to grant them good grades at school when he was younger, or his money when he was grown – and Bernard wasn't someone to just bow to those interests absent-mindedly. He'd spent his whole life pushing the others apart – and any psychiatrist would have pointed out he had mild social phobia. But that wasn't the case, at all.

His excuse-of-a-father had been the real reason why he seemed to dodge any kind of social contact with the others, even though he truly did not want to admit he was the cause for it.

He would not think of that bastard right now. Heck, he could even be a living corpse right now, for all he cared.

Literally.

The librarian was superbly glad Wayne had found him when he did, and he was grateful towards the man. But naturally, he couldn't show it as a normal person would. His gratefulness was expressed in the form of silent following and lack of snarky remarks.

"Hey, there's the car."

Wayne picked up his pace, approaching the vehicle with an impair determination in his face. Bernard followed him close, uzi still drawn menacingly.

Once they found the car empty, however, the two looked around, searching for some kind of clue of that familiar woman's whereabouts.

"She can't be far.."

Bernard sighed, rubbing his aching forehead. He couldn't wait to be somewhere quiet and tranquil, where he could finally clean all the debris and human leftovers from his suit, and have something nice and warm to eat.

Of course, the more they walked, the more destruction they found, and the more that moment seemed far away. Just when Bernard was about to reply to the officer's mumble, they heard something else.

"Over here, old friend."

Wayne's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the familiar voice, and the man turned his head almost instantly to follow its source. He could recognize that voice any day.

As the duo made its way towards more buildings, the large-chinned man confirmed his suspicions.

"Megamind."

The criminal offered a smirk through the opened door of the safehouse, and the enemies raised their weapons at the same time.

"Oh, it's a small word…"

Wayne was incredulous. Of the two people besides himself that he knew to be alive, one was Metro City's most wanted criminal and his proclaimed nemesis.

What kind of strange, mutilated fate was this?

"Listen, any other day I'd be happy to take your blue ass to jail, but I'm afraid –"

He was rudely interrupted by a dry laugh coming from the villain, one that also showed amusement, no less.

"Is there even such thing as a prison establishment anymore?"

Wayne offered a small smile, glad to be back in the duo's area of expertise – banter.

It hadn't always been that way, though. Wayne had been abandoned at birth in front of a very wealthy house, where he'd gotten everything but deep parental love. He never even got to build much of a bond with his adoptive parents, but he was terribly grateful for their support.

This lack of care had obviously caused some flaws in Wayne's personality as a child. He was terribly smarmy, cocky even – always showing off to his devoted group of follower fans and demeaning the other freaks, such as the blue kid with the large head.

Their teacher had explained, with some disdain, no less, that he was not to be treated rudely for his appearance – but when the time everyone threw heart-clustering insults at the little boy and his fish companion had come, she hadn't done a thing to stop it.

And Wayne had been the one to initiate those insults, not realizing how much weight he was putting on the blue kid.

The time came when he gladly matured, however; and he deeply regretted having that effect on the kid some referred to as Blue.

That caused a change in his life – once he saved a woman from being violently assaulted, there was a click inside Wayne's brain, and he'd found his vocation.

Years and badges later, he'd become Metro City's most prestigious chief officer, while the blue kid had grown up to be a criminal.

Twisted fate, indeed.

"There will always be a special place for criminals like you, rest assured."

Roxanne was wide attentive now, watching the two men blabber things that were most certainly not that important at a time like this.

She'd seen a man being eaten alive. If that wasn't proof enough they needed to stop playing games and get out of here, she didn't know what was.

Minion was putting together the supplies he'd gathered into a small red pack they would most definitely need to carry, wherever they went next.

"Can we postpone this conversation and get inside?"

Bernard was the one to manifest his will this time, hearing low incoherent mumbles in the distance. A conflict was best avoidable right now, without a single doubt.

"Not so fast."

Megamind held the gun furiously, brow furrowed in a deep concentration. He hated this man with all the passion in his being, that tidbit was undeniable. And he wasn't to trust him this easily. Even when the officer lowered his weapon.

"Okay listen, I don't want to fight the only person alive in the middle of this mess. I heard a distress call from this position, have you seen a woman?"

Megamind swallowed as he took note of movement behind his back, and intensified the grip on the gun's handle. Roxanne had faintly attempted walking towards the man, glad to recognize a friendly face amongst this impromptu situation.

"I've never been this glad to see you, Wayne."

Wayne exhaled in relief, despite being in the direct sight of the large-headed man's gun.

"I'm glad you're fine, Roxie. We're gathering survivors and heading towards Hilltop Park. They're evacuating survivors there; if we can make it there in time we might get a chance to leave the city."

Megamind raised a curious eyebrow.

"Oh? And why aren't they letting anyone know about that? Minion and I have been listening to every frequency for the past few hours and there wasn't a single announcement of timed evacuation."

Wayne nodded, obviously seeming to understand what the man meant. Bernard just stood beside him, eyeing the blue man intently.

"There are only five more helicopters. The truth is, not every pilot's keen to returning to this hellhole after being safe somewhere else. Those were the instructions I received from the military. After that they didn't hesitate to haul into safety and declare the city lost. We don't have many options."

_Lost_. The city was already condemned. Mere hours had passed and they hadn't hesitated in leaving everyone behind for the sake of their own safety.

And they claimed to be men dedicated to the welfare of their city, of their nation? That was absolutely ludicrous. Bernard found himself wishing every one of those hypocrites was killed in a helicopter crash right now. Except for the ones willing to rescue his life, of course.

"I don't trust you."

The words came out crisp, a pure, honest statement of the reality. The criminal clenched his jaw tightly, expression threatening and finger ready to shoot at any moment. It was as clear as glass to anyone present that these two had a turbulent past. Bernard soon broke the criminal's honest confession, however.

"Would you consider your options for a second? You can either stay here and get eaten by those bloodsucking _bastards_ or come with us and try to get the hell out of here. Use that big head of yours for a second, will you?"

Minion stepped behind the blue man reassuringly. He normally wasn't one to get involved in his Master's choices –unless they involved getting him out of trouble, that is – but as much as he hated Wayne himself, he had to find it in himself to trust him for a few hours at least.

"He's right Sir, we don't have a choice."

Megamind blinked for a few seconds, feeling his chest clench at the realization of how worried Minion's tone had been. He lowered the gun slowly, swallowing the little wetness existent in his mouth.

They were right. If there were more people alive, then they could still have a chance at getting out of here if they worked together. He looked beside him to see a determined shade of blue in the reporter's eyes. He _had_ to protect her and Minion.

"Fine. How long until they evacuate?"


End file.
